It is amazing that there is a well-researched and 100% legal health supplement with loads of physical and cognitive benefits, which is available from your local supermarket for just a few dollars, is FDA-approved and safely consumed by millions of people.

But the vast majority of people who are taking it, are doing so for the one approved purpose for which it is practically useless!

Nicotine is great for some things, but it is quite bad at one thing: helping you quit smoking. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration has endorsed the use of nicotine in quit-smoking programmes, but a six-year study of almost 800 adults who had recently quit smoking showed no difference in relapse rates between those who used nicotine replacement therapy and those who did not.

You’ve heard of nicotine of course, but I bet you’ve never been told that it’s good for you. In fact, it’s pretty likely that you believe the exact opposite – that nicotine is cancer-causing and addictive. I have news for you: not only is nicotine neither of those things, but it actually comes with a long list of physical and cognitive benefits that you will definitely want to get up to speed on.

So what’s it good for? Before we dive into nicotine’s surprisingly long list of therapeutic attributes, let’s find out a little more about the substance itself.

What is nicotine?

Nicotine is a naturally occurring alkaloid that is found in the environment, and we can also mass produce it quite easily. It is found naturally in the soil and in plants such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and cauliflower. Plants from the nightshade plant family, being particularly high in alkaloids, are heavily represented in the list of nicotine-containing foods. The only plant that has a sufficient level of nicotine to have an effect on us humans is, of course, the tobacco plant.

These plants produce nicotine as a natural protective insecticide, similar to how caffeine is produced in the leaves and beans of the coffee plant. And just like caffeine, in sensible doses nicotine is only a mild central nervous system stimulant in us humans.

Nicotine is not tobacco

You’ve probably been told that nicotine is bad for you. The major reason for this is the confusion between nicotine and cigarettes. Nicotine is so strongly associated with tobacco that most people have a difficult time separating the two in their minds, and it certainly requires an amount of courage and critical thinking to endorse a drug that is linked to one of the world’s most devastating public health afflictions. So it’s not something you’ll come across all that often.

You’re likely a bit more open minded than all that, but I should still be very clear about this next statement: I am not advocating smoking. Cigarette smoke is a proven addictive carcinogenic containing many thousands of chemicals, a bunch of which are known to be harmful. Hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, asbestos, tar, arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde, the list goes on. Of the 250 known harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke, 69 can cause cancer.

Obviously, I am not suggesting that anybody should go anywhere near tobacco. Cigarettes are an absolutely terrible delivery system for nicotine, but thankfully we have some safe and effective options.

But isn’t nicotine harmful and addictive?

Despite everything you’ve been led to believe, nicotine is very safe and not addictive enough on its own to worry about. Nicotine is not classified as a carcinogen, and there are zero epidemiological studies linking nicotine (in isolation from smoking) to cancer.

As for addictiveness, the US FDA itself states:

“… decades of research and use have shown that [nicotine replacement therapy] products sold [over the counter] do not appear to have significant potential for abuse or dependence”.

Like caffeine, it is technically possible to form an addiction to it, but only in very high doses and more so in the presence of the other chemicals found in cigarette smoke. Researchers have found that animals will self-administer a combination of nicotine and other chemicals in far greater quantities than they will nicotine on its own. In fact, researchers find it virtually impossible to get their tiny rodent subjects hooked on pure nicotine, despite the positive and pleasant effects that we humans obtain from it.

Addiction to nicotine gum, lozenges, or patches is practically unheard of. None of the many nicotine-related studies have seen any withdrawal symptoms in their non-smoking subjects.

There are a couple of things to point out though. Like many substances, nicotine is poisonous at high enough doses. Nicotine gums, lozenges, and patches could harm a pet or young child, so keep them out of reach. It’s also a good idea for adolescents to avoid nicotine, since it can lead to impairment in the prefrontal cortex in this age group.

Finally, nicotine has the potential to interact with other drugs such as blood pressure medication.

So, with that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff.

The 8 surprising health benefits of nicotine

Nicotine has neuroprotective properties, and plays a beneficial role in many areas of cognition and mood. It shows enormous promise in preventing and treating some of the biggest afflictions in the modern population – Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia.

Nicotine can help you to get “into the zone” (particularly for writing or studying), and shift your mood to a higher level.

It also has very positive physical effects including fat loss, appetite suppression and improved athletic performance. If you’re a gym goer, it can help you with your workout focus, enhance muscle recruitment, and assist with their intermittent fasting or other weight-loss strategies.

#1 – Cognitive performance

Nicotine is rapidly gaining attention as a powerful nootropic, or “smart drug”. Dozens of studies have shown that it significantly improves attention, working memory, vigilance, learning and creativity – as well as providing motivation and a mild buzz.

It exerts its many positive effects by attaching to nicotinic receptors in the brain, improving both brain chemistry and brainwave activity.

Study participants using nicotine gums and patches were more vigilant, and were able to pay attention to a mentally challenging task significantly longer than the control group. Short term recall is also improved, with fewer errors made in word-recall tests than in those given a placebo.

There are several mechanisms by which nicotine achieves this, but the overall effect seems to be that it lets us shut out less relevant input, and narrow down our focus to the task at hand.

Nicotine alters the electrical activity in the brain. It significantly increases the prevalence of alpha brain waves, which are associated with heightened imagination, creativity, visualisation, memory, learning, concentration and mood. Alpha waves are generated when we daydream or consciously practise mindfulness or meditation.

#2 – Fat loss and appetite control

Like smoking (ironically enough), obesity is a global epidemic, and one of the world’s greatest public health crises. For those who struggle with their weight, finding a simple, cheap and safe way to boost metabolism and curb hunger is a godsend.

Smokers have long been known to have lower bodyweight than non-smokers, and smokers who are successful in quitting often note an increase in weight afterwards. The reasons behind this are three-fold:

1. Nicotine induces lipolysis, which is the technical word for the process whereby fat cells break down, releasing their contents into the blood stream to be burned as fuel.
2. It is an appetite suppressant, causing a decrease in overall food intake and a positive shift in energy balance. Energy balance is the single most important driver of fat loss, and reduced caloric intake reduces the “energy in” side of that equation.
3. It has a thermogenic effect, which means it boosts metabolism – especially so when combined with caffeine. Thermogenesis represents an increase in the “energy out” side of the energy balance equation.

One rodent study found that mice reduced their own food consumption by almost 50% after nicotine treatment, and lost around 20% of their body fat.

Competitive bodybuilders have been using nicotine for years, particularly to assist with the intense pre-contest ‘cutting’ phase. Fat burners like ephedrine and clenbuterol are also popular in that industry, but they’re generally either banned or illegal, and not actually as effective as the online bodybuilding forums would have us believe.

Most fat-burners do their thing in a similar way: they either cause a release of adrenaline (which attaches to specific receptors on fat cells to induce lipolysis), or they use the same receptors as adrenaline to mimic its effects.

Nicotine works differently to the more traditional stimulants, and avoids many of the associated pitfalls.

#3 – Wakefulness and alertness

Nicotine is a mild but effective stimulant, with some studies showing that it may be as effective as modafinil (known in the US as Provigil) for promoting wakefulness.

As with its fat loss and appetite suppressing capabilities, nicotine works a little differently to caffeine and other commonly-used stimulants. Nicotine is dopaminergic, which means it modulates dopamine levels. Dopamine is a critical neurotransmitter from the catecholamine family, affecting attention, risk and reward in the brain. It is the chemical that reinforces behaviours both good and bad, from sex to gambling to food and drugs.

Nicotine also activates orexin neurons, which are associated with cortical arousal. It increases the amount of orexin, and over time it also increases the number of orexin receptors, which basically increases sensitivity to orexin overall. So this is a one-two punch, both increasing the effect of orexin, while also directly stimulating the same neural pathways as orexin itself does.

One of the key differences in nicotine’s effects compared to other stimulants is that nicotine doesn’t leave you feeling wired or agitated. Its effects are a little more sophisticated, more along the lines of a mild buzz involving calm attention, focus, and a good mood. It provides a sense of energy wrapped in a calm envelope. While nicotine can definitely help you stay awake, it is much less likely to mess with melatonin release than caffeine, or cause sleep issues. It also has a positive impact on fine motor control, rather than the negative impact you would get from caffeine or ephedrine.

#4 – Physical endurance

Given nicotine’s beneficial effects on metabolism, fine motor control, focus, and reaction times, it’s no surprise that it has become a popular supplement for athletic endeavours. It has also been shown to significantly improve pain tolerance, which is highly relevant to many endurance sports. This may be due to nicotine’s involvement in the release of endorphins.

Athletes can benefit from the increase in catecholamines and endorphins circulating in the bloodstream, triggered by nicotine. Catecholamines are neurotransmitters and hormones within the body, and they include dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine. The release of catecholamines in turn leads to increased blood flow to the muscles.

A study using nicotine patches found a 17% improvement in time to exhaustion compared to a placebo group. This effect was unrelated to cardiovascular or respiratory output, meaning that the gain was not caused by an improvement in aerobic or anaerobic performance. Rather nicotine delays the onset of central nervous system fatigue, which is the brain’s way of protecting itself when it senses that bodily resources are becoming depleted by exercise (although this kicks in well before full depletion actually occurs).

#5 – Inflammation and arthritis

Nicotine has anti-inflammatory properties, preventing joint inflammation and delaying the onset of arthritis.

Nicotine lowers the body’s production of – and responsiveness to – proinflammatory cytokines.  These cytokines are a signalling molecule that is excreted from immune cells, macrophages, and other cell types that promote inflammation. They’re produced as part of inflammatory reactions, and when chronically produced in excess they contribute to inflammatory diseases. Chronic inflammation is a bigger issue than most people realise, and is linked to atherosclerosis, cancer, and depression.

A major Australian study on 11,000 old-aged males found that smokers were around 50% less likely to need a full replacement of the hip or knee joint due to osteoarthritis. The study authors concluded that nicotine stimulated activity in the cells found in joint cartilage, thus helping lessen the severity of osteoarthritis.

A follow-up study of over 54,000 older people reinforced that conclusion, albeit with a weaker relationship noted the second time around. In the later study, male and female smokers were found to be 40% and 30% less likely, respectively, to undergo a total joint replacement. This relationship was true after controlling for age, weight, physical exercise, and other variables.

#6 – Depression, motivation and mood

Nicotine stimulates areas of the brain which are involved with the release of endorphins, as well as serotonin and dopamine – all chemicals that are associated with happiness, and which are deficient in people who have depression. This has the effect of noticeably enhancing mood, and the associated release of acetylcholine provides a sense of increased energy.

Studies show that people who suffer from depression are twice as likely to be smokers, and have a harder time quitting. The conclusion of researchers is that this is likely due to the therapeutic benefits that nicotine is providing them.

#7 – Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and dementia

Back in 1966 the National Institutes for Health concluded a study of almost 300,000 people which looked at the different associations between smoking and dying of various causes. As we might expect, this study found a roughly 20-fold increase in the likelihood of a smoker dying from emphysema lung cancer, or cancers of the neck and throat.

But this huge data set also threw up an intriguing artefact: smokers seemed to be around three times less likely to die from Parkinson’s disease than non-smokers were. Follow-on studies adjusted for potential epidemiological effects, and conclusively confirmed that Parkinson’s patients are much less likely to have ever been smokers.

Study after study since that time has shown that nicotine has neuroprotective qualities for the aging brain, and is both a preventative and treatment for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

#8 – Schizophrenia

Another interesting nugget unearthed by researchers is the finding that about 90 percent of people with schizophrenia smoke cigarettes. The thought is that these people are self-medicating with nicotine, which makes sense considering nicotine’s beneficial effects on energy, motivation and attention, mediated via the release of dopamine. Those are all things that schizophrenia sufferers struggle with, as well as general cognitive decline which is also helped by nicotine.

Attention may be particularly important here. Schizophrenia patients tend to be overwhelmed by sensory input and thoughts that most of us have no trouble simply ignoring. Nicotine’s ability to improve attention and recall is particularly relevant to schizophrenics.

How to take it – dosage

Nicotine is metabolised by enzymes in the liver, and has a half-life of around 2 hours in our bodies. While cigarette-smokers might expect to have a large 15-20mg dose delivered into their system within seconds, the benefits I’ve outlined here are unlocked by the consumption of just 2 to 4 mg. Delivered into your system by a more sensible vehicle than a cigarette, of course.

This relates back to the addiction issue. A cigarette-smoker receiving that large and sudden rush of nicotine will kick their brain’s pleasure centre into overdrive. A more sensible approach like chewing nicotine gum, on the other hand, will release its 2-4mg dose over a period of 15 to 45 minutes. So there will be less of a euphoric rush, all of the benefits of nicotine, and none of the substantial downsides of smoking.

Assuming you’re a non-smoker, my advice is to start small with a dose of 1mg and gradually work up from there over time. If you’re mainly interested in the cognitive advantages, a 2mg dose will be enough to see those benefits. If you’re more of a hard-charging endurance or strength athlete, 4mg is likely going to be more effective in unlocking the fat burning and muscle fibre recruitment benefits.

In either scenario, there will be synergistic effects when combined with 100-200mg of caffeine. Nicotine gums and lozenges take 15-30 minutes to take effect, while caffeine can take 45-60 minutes depending how you take it. The manufacturers of nicotine supplements advise that caffeine drinks will inhibit nicotine uptake for up to 15 mins, so if taking this stacking approach it makes good sense to ‘time your run’ by having your coffee or caffeine drink first, then waiting 15 minutes before popping your nicotine gum or lozenge.

How to take it – nicotine delivery vehicles

There are several different ways to get your nicotine onboard, ranging from stupid to great. Here is a brief outline of those, in roughly that order:

1. Smoking cigarettes

That would be stupid. Don’t do it.

2. Chewing tobacco

This is pretty much just as bad as smoking. It exposes you to many of the same toxic chemicals, and in this form tobacco is a very powerful cancer-causing agent. This method releases around 400% of the amount of nicotine that smoking does, which is waaaay more than you want.

This category would include snuff, snu, or any form of tobacco that goes in your mouth.

3. Vaping, or e-cigarettes

The jury is still out on the safety of this practice. It’s certainly safer than your tobacco options, but the oils contain nano-particles of heavy metal and other substances that are probably not good for you. If you’re already a smoker, then this is going to be a better choice. But if you’re not a smoker, then I don’t recommend it.

4. Inhalers

These seem more suited to a smoker trying to quit – not that nicotine replacement is particularly effective for this purpose, but it is designed to replace the hand-to-mouth action that smokers are used to. Inhalers contain no additional chemicals, which is a positive.

5. Gums

At this point on the list we’ve arrived at consumption methods that make more sense. Nicotine gums typically come in 2mg or 4mg doses, and can be cut in half to find just the right dose for you.

You chew nicotine gums a bit differently to normal chewing gum, using what one of the manufacturers terms the “chew and park” method. You chew the gum until you taste the nicotine or feel a tingling (it can feel like a mild burning sensation), then you ‘park’ the gum between your gums and cheek. Leave it there until the tingling or taste subsides – which usually takes a minute or two – then chew and repeat. Using this method, a piece of gum will be good for about half an hour before it runs out of nicotine.

The nicotine in gums is meant to be absorbed through your cheeks and gums, rather than swallowed into the stomach which is a journey that it can’t survive.

The main downside with gums is that the vast majority of them contain artificial sweeteners.

6. Lozenges

If you don’t like the look of chewing gum, lozenges might be a more suitable alternative for you. Like gums, these typically come in 2mg and 4mg types. Also like gums, there is a particular way of taking them, and unfortunately they also usually contain a small amount of artificial sweetener. But it’s not going to be much, particularly in a smaller lozenge, and probably not worth worrying about too much.

7. Patches

The nicotine from patches is absorbed into your system more slowly than from gum, but patches typically contain more nicotine which is absorbed more slowly – that is, over a longer period of time. This results in a longer and more stable nicotine intake, and you can of course simply remove the patch when you’ve gotten as much as you planned to.

Patches usually don’t contain any harmful chemicals, so from a ‘purity’ perspective they’re pretty good.

8. Sprays

Nicotine sprays provide about 1mg of nicotine per spray, which you aim under your tongue or onto the inside of your cheek. This method is absorbed very quickly, and in a good controlled fashion.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Nicotine has been flying under the radar, mostly because of its association with smoking and – by extension – with addiction and cancer. But with researchers now beginning to appreciate its potential, eventually we’ll see nicotine in a whole new light.